Writer Momma: Give into the Guilt

And by lovely I mean it snowed this morning and then the sun came out and it was all gone by noon. Except our driveway which is entirely in the shade. But digressing from my icy driveway.

This week I am introducing a few new weekly features here on the blog. Among those is ‘Writer’s Wednesday’ and ’Tea Talk’ Thursday. Joining these weekly features is ‘Writer Momma’ which will feature on Tuesday (sorry I couldn’t come up with a fancier name…I’m open to suggestions).

Women, and mothers, make up a large portion of my readership and I would like to take Tuesdays to talk about the life of a mom who writes.

Since I decided to make writing a career I’ve faced many challenges. I’ve come to realize that its not only time that keeps many mothers from finishing, or indeed starting novels, but energy as well. Writing with a child, or children, means writing early in the morning, naptime, and late at night. Then, adding in housework, jobs, social commitments, its quite a feat that we get published at all.

Some of us have strong support networks and some of us don’t, but all of us feel the guilt over taking time for ourselves, for being away from our children, for being distracted, the list could go on. The Clouds Aren't White was a lesson in distracting myself from the guilt.

This week, give into the guilt. Feel it. Understand it. Then, after five minutes, let it go. If you have to do it everyday, or every writing session, then go ahead. The goal here is to understand the underlying cause of your guilt (or attempt to) and then get on with your day.

This doesn’t just apply to mothers who are attempting to write a novel, its true for all mothers, for all women, because for some reason we like to destroy ourselves with guilt.

Perhaps some day we will be able to acknowledge that we feel guilty and then after a small moment, let it go.